Ontario, Canada
November 30, 2007
At a recent meeting of the Board
of Directors of Ontario
Soybean Growers the board voted to withdraw from the current
MOU process of forming one organization with Ontario Corn
Producers' Association (OCPA) and the Ontario Wheat Producers'
Marketing Board (OWPMB).
At a joint meeting today with representatives of OCPA and OWPMB
Leo Guilbeault, Chair of the Ontario Soybean Growers (OSG)
presented a statement and supporting explanation for the Board's
decision. The decision to withdraw from the MOU process was made
after considerable discussion along with an analysis of the
benefits of the proposed organization. By remaining status quo
and continuing to provide value to growers OSG believes that the
proposed MOU structure and process would not have been as
beneficial to soybean growers.
"It was a difficult decision for our Board, "says Guilbeault
"but after much deliberation we believe that the ongoing
direction of our strategic plan is the best option at the
present time."
Moving forward with the decision OSG will continue to follow
through with the current strategic plan with an emphasis on
market development and delivering increased value to growers.
One of the deciding factors of OSG's decision was to adhere to
the guiding principles of the organization's mission statement
which highlights the development and promotion of a sound
industry, creating opportunities for viable and profitable
returns to growers.
OSG also supports OCPA and OWPMB should they move forward on the
MOU process.
"We recognize and appreciate all the hard work that has been
dedicated to this lengthy process," says Guilbeault.
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Wheat and corn organizations are disappointed in
MOU delays
The producer
organizations representing Ontario corn and wheat
producers are disappointed with the Ontario Soybean
Growers’ (OSG) unilateral decision to suspend its
participation in the Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) process of forming one organization with
Ontario Corn Producers’ Association (OCPA) and
Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board (OWPMB).
OSG’s decision was brought to the joint MoU board
meeting in Woodstock yesterday, where the three
boards were expected to make final changes to an
information package and ballot that was in the works
to be distributed to all grain and oilseed producers
in Ontario in January 2008. The voting process would
have been conducted by the Farm Products Marketing
Commission and required the Ontario Minister of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ consent. A
joint request to conduct the vote was made to the
Commission before OSG’s withdrawal.
“We are disappointed that the Board of Directors of
OSG has chosen to withdraw from the MoU process at
this time,” says Al Kerkhof, Chair of Ontario Wheat
Producers’ Marketing Board. “We have invested
considerable time, money, staff and director
resources in the past three and a half years in
making this a transparent process for our producer
members and we feel strongly that our joint proposal
would add value to Ontario grain and oilseed
farmers.”
The MoU was signed by the Chairs of all three
organizations in 2004, with an objective to “work
towards the formation of a grains and oilseeds
organization by a target date of September 2008.”
With OSG removing itself from the process, OCPA and
OWPMB are taking time to regroup.
“Both the corn and wheat organizations continue to
believe that negotiations and the proposed producer
package to date are in the best interest of all
Ontario grain and oilseed farmers,” says Dale
Mountjoy, President of OCPA. “This has been an open
and consultative process to date, and we are
disappointed that producers won’t have a chance to
further direct this process with a vote. We hope
this will be an active discussion point at upcoming
county meetings in January.”
A complete listing of producer meetings is available
at www.ontariowheatboard.com and
www.ontariocorn.org. Both OWPMB and OCPA are
committed to operate as business as usual,
continuing to add value to Ontario corn and wheat
producers. Discussions on amalgamation among the
groups will be suspended until completion of all
county and regional meetings in February 2008.
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